LEONARD STANLEY PRIORY

The remains of Leonard Stanley Priory, a Benedictine foundation, which lies immediately to the south of the parish church of St Swithin and comprises a Saxon chapel, Listed Grade II*, a pond and the below ground remains of the conventual buildings. The priory precinct would have originally been more extensive, but the evidence for this is not fully understood. All the conventual buildings have been levelled. To the south west of the parish church is a single celled chapel of tenth or 11th century origin. The roof of the chapel appears to have been altered during the 17th century when it was used as a barn. To the west of the chapel is a pond which is thought to have been a fishpond associated with the medieval priory. The western side of the precinct, to the south of the Saxon chapel, contained the kitchen, which is known to have been a square stone building with a louvred roof and which was standing until 1834. Leonard Stanley Priory was founded as a cell of Augustinian canons between 1121 and 1131 by Roger de Berkeley, lord of the manor. In 1146 the house became a cell of Gloucester Abbey, and therefore a Benedictine foundation. The Saxon chapel was incorporated into the foundation, and until the completion of the church of St Swithin, was the main place of worship for both monks and villagers, after which it served as a guest and private chapel for the prior. The foundation was dissolved in 1538, after which the site became a farm, and the buildings were converted for use as farm buildings. Scheduled.

A priory of Augustinian canons was founded at Leonard Stanley between AD 1121 and 1130. In 1146 iit became a cell of the Benedictine Abbey of St Peter at Gloucester, with which it remained until its suppression in 1538 (2). The church of St Swithun was originally part of the priory. Much Norman work remains, including doorways and windows in the nave. The conventual buildings to the south of the church have been mostly destroyed (3), but a vault beneath the north end of Priory Farm may have formed a portion of the vanished part, and the medieval tithe-barn with its Decorated gable window still remains (4). The priory kitchen was extant in 1787 (5). The ruined chapel immediately SW of the church is of pre-Conquest origin, and retains a blocked doorway with a characteristic Anglo Saxon hood moulding (6). It was the rectory church of the parish until the mid-15th cent and is now used as a barn (4). In the churchyard are the old stocks (3). (2-6)